Camp-Fire and Cotton-Field eBook

It was my fortune to be acquainted with General Lyon.
During the progress of the war I met no one who impressed
me more than he, in his devotion to the interests
of the country. If he possessed ambition for
personal glory, I was unable to discover it. He
declared that reputation was a bubble, which no good
soldier should follow. Wealth was a shadow, which
no man in the country’s service should heed.
His pay as an officer was sufficient for all his wants,
and he desired nothing more. He gave to the Nation,
as the friend he loved the dearest, a fortune which
he had inherited. If his death could aid in the
success of the cause for which he was fighting, he
stood ready to die. The gloom that spread throughout
the North when the news of his loss was received,
showed a just appreciation of his character.

“How sleep the brave who sink to
rest
By all their country’s wishes
blest!”

At that battle there was the usual complement of officers
for five thousand men. Two years later there
were seven major-generals and thirteen brigadier-generals
who had risen from the Wilson Creek Army. There
were colonels, lieutenant-colonels, and majors, by
the score, who fought in the line or in the ranks
on that memorable 10th of August. In 1863, thirty-two
commissioned officers were in the service from one
company of the First Iowa Infantry. Out of one
company of the First Missouri Infantry, twenty-eight
men received commissions. To the majority of
the officers from that army promotion was rapid, though
a few cases occurred in which the services they rendered
were tardily acknowledged.

[Illustration: DEATH OF GENERAL LYON]

CHAPTER VII.

THE RETREAT FROM SPRINGFIELD.

A Council of War.—­The Journalists’
Council.—­Preparations for
Retreat.—­Preceding the Advance-Guard.—­Alarm
and Anxiety of the
People.—­Magnificent Distances.—­A
Novel Odometer.—­The Unreliable
Countryman.—­Neutrality.—­A Night
at Lebanon.—­A Disagreeable
Lodging-place.—­Active Secessionists.—­The
Man who Sought and
Found his Rights.—­Approaching Civilization.—­Rebel
Couriers on the
Route.—­Arrival at Rolla.

On the night after the battle, the army was quartered
at Springfield. The Rebels had returned to the
battle-ground, and were holding it in possession.
The court-house and a large hotel were taken for hospitals,
and received such of our wounded as were brought in.
At a council of war, it was decided to fall back to
Rolla, a hundred and twenty miles distant, and orders
were given to move at daylight.

The journalists held a council of war, and decided
to commence their retreat at half-past two o’clock
in the morning, in order to be in advance of the army.
The probabilities were in favor of the enemy’s
cavalry being at the junction of certain roads, five
miles east of the town. We, therefore, divested
ourselves of every thing of a compromising character.
In my own saddle-bags I took only such toilet articles
as I had long carried, and which were not of a warlike
nature. We destroyed papers that might give information
to the enemy, and kept only our note-books, from which
all reference to the strength of our army was carefully
stricken out. We determined, in case of capture,
to announce ourselves as journalists, and display our
credentials.